AB 2501, as amended, Bonilla. Voluntary manslaughter.
Existing law defines voluntary manslaughter as the unlawful killing of a human being without malice upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion. The crime of voluntary manslaughter is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 3, 6, or 11 years.
This bill would state that for purposes of determining sudden quarrel or heat of passion, the provocation was not objectively reasonable if it resulted from the discovery of, knowledge about, or potential disclosure of the victim’sbegin delete or defendant’send delete actual or perceived gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation, including under circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted nonforcible romantic or sexual advance towards the defendant, or if the defendant and victim dated or had a romantic or
sexual relationship. By changing the definition of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 192 of the Penal Code is amended to
2read:
Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being
4without malice. It is of three kinds:
5(a) Voluntary--upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion.
6(b) Involuntary--in the commission of an unlawful act, not
7amounting tobegin insert aend insert felony; or in the commission of a lawful act which
8might produce death, in an unlawful manner, or without due caution
9and circumspection. This subdivision shall not apply to acts
10committed in the driving of a vehicle.
11(c) Vehicular--
12(1) Except as provided in subdivision (a) of Section 191.5,
13driving a vehicle in the commission of an unlawful act, not
14amounting tobegin insert aend insert felony, and with gross negligence; or driving a
15vehicle in the commission of a lawful act which might produce
16death, in an unlawful manner, and with gross negligence.
17(2) Driving a vehicle in the commission of an unlawful act, not
18amounting tobegin insert aend insert felony, but without gross negligence; or driving a
19vehicle in the commission of a lawful act which might produce
20death, in an unlawful manner, but without gross negligence.
21(3) Driving a vehicle in connection with a violation of paragraph
22(3) of subdivision (a) of Section 550, where the vehicular collision
23or vehicular accident was knowingly caused for financial gain and
24proximately resulted in the death of any person. This paragraph
25does not prevent prosecution of a defendant for the crime of
26murder.
27(d) This section shall not be construed as making any homicide
28in the driving of a vehicle punishable that is not a proximate result
29of the commission of an unlawful act, not amounting tobegin insert aend insert felony,
30or of the commission of a lawful act which might produce death,
31in an unlawful manner.
32(e) “Gross negligence,” as used in this section, does not
prohibit
33or preclude a charge of murder under Section 188 upon facts
P3 1exhibiting wantonness and a conscious disregard for life to support
2a finding of implied malice, or upon facts showing malice,
3consistent with the holding of the California Supreme Court in
4People v. Watson (1981) 30 Cal.3d 290.
5(f) (1) For purposes of determining sudden quarrel or heat of
6passionbegin delete underend deletebegin insert pursuant toend insert subdivision (a), the provocation was
7not objectively reasonable if it resulted from the discovery of,
8knowledge about, or potential disclosure of the victim’sbegin delete or actual or perceived
gender, gender identity, gender
9defendant’send delete
10expression, or sexual orientation, including under circumstances
11in which the victim made an unwanted nonforcible romantic or
12sexual advance towards the defendant, or if the defendant and
13victim dated or had a romantic or sexual relationship. Nothing in
14this section shall preclude the jury from considering all relevant
15facts to determine whether the defendant was in fact provoked for
16purposes of establishing subjective provocation.
17(2) For purposes of this subdivision, “gender” includes a
18person’s gender identity and gender-related appearance and
19behavior regardless of whether that appearance or behavior is
20associated with the person’s gender as determined at birth.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
22Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
23the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
24district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
25infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
26for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
27the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
28the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
29Constitution.
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